


The Breakfast Question

by Quiet_Shadow



Series: Summer Days Prompts [22]
Category: Ranma 1/2
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Twins, Arguing, Cooking, Domestic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-06-14 13:31:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15389802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quiet_Shadow/pseuds/Quiet_Shadow
Summary: Three Cursed Sisters (and Half) AU.The first morning after getting cursed, Kasumi finds the change in her routine distracting. But to be honest, so does her new twin.





	The Breakfast Question

Kasumi Tendo wasn’t happy. She wasn’t unhappy either, mind you, but she certainly didn’t feel as serene as usual. She knew why, of course; the fault laid entirely in the previous evening events and how they had unfolded.

The thing was, ever since the death of the matriarch, the Tendo household had operated on a routine, one that got amended from times to times when Akane-chan and Nabiki-chan decided to dine outside at a friend’s (or using some poor besotted boy on Nabiki’s part) or when they left for school trips or when Father took off for a few days when he was hired to deal with a problem in remote villages who asked for a martial artist’s help to deal with delinquents or rumored monsters or spirits problems.

The routine was such: Kasumi would be the first one awake in the morning. She’d make breakfast for everyone before being joined by Father, the other early riser of the family, who would start doing a few kata in the garden or the Dojo before stopping, coming in the washitsu to wait for breakfast to be served while reading the various newspapers he received. If Akane had gotten enough sleep, she’d be joining him in doing exercises – if not, then Kasumi would head upstairs to wake her up, and she’s wake Nabiki as well. Her middle sister was the one who enjoyed late mornings the most, unless she had a previous engagement. They’d eat breakfast together, everyone would share if they had special plans for the days and Nabiki and Akane would head out.

Once upon a time, Kasumi would have left for school alongside them and done the chores upon coming back home. But ever since she had graduated from Furinkan, she had taken to take care of the house (and Father) full time.

First she’d wash the dishes and write a groceries list, then she’d head out to the market in order to buy fresh food for a quick lunch for herself and Father and everything she’d need to make dinner, the next day breakfast and a couple of additional meals, such as Akane and Nabiki’s lunch boxes. Upon coming back home, she’d start doing the laundry – and if there wasn’t enough to warrant the use of the washing machine, she’d either wash a few clothes by hand or start on another chore. After lunch, Kasumi would start cleaning up the house, focusing on a few rooms a day only (and trusting Nabiki and Akane to clean up their own rooms; there were things teenager girls wished to keep secret from their older siblings, after all). If the day was very nice and the garden required some care, she’d do it as well. Her sisters would come home, would do their homework before watching TV or reading a book (Nabiki) or going out to jog or train if they hadn’t had the time in the morning (Akane). Kasumi would make dinner, which would be ready for the time Father dismissed his latest class of the day. They’d pass a quiet evening together or apart, Kasumi and Father and sometimes Nabiki checking out their budget and how to balance the account and speak about insurances and bills and whatnots and finally they’d go to bed, ready to face another day.

Only, yesterday hadn’t gone according to plan at all – and thank to Father’s friends and the surprise fiancé sprung on them.

Now, Kasumi wasn’t really upset about the idea Father had arranged a marriage for at least one of them. While it wasn’t quite as frequent as it once was, it was still a common enough practice that Kasumi had had several classmates in the same situation. She was slightly, ever so slightly resentful of the fact Father had never mentioned it before, though; wouldn’t have it been nicer for them to know in advance to their didn’t get their hopes too high with another boy? And it would have also be nice to meet the potential fiancé before the engagement was announced so suddenly, find out what kind of boy he was and if a marriage could really work.

Ah, but never mind.

If it had been the only surprise of the evening, the normally quiet, reserved and serene Kasumi would have been perfectly fine. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. Uncle Saotome was a panda half of the time and his son Ranma was sometimes his daughter as well.

And the Tendo daughters were now Cursed as well.

Why someone would transport Cursed water in their backpack was beyond her. Especially water that couldn’t negate their own Curses. Kasumi could understand the water of the Spring of Drowned Boy. She could even understand the water of the Spring of Drowned Twins, sort of; she had the sneaky feeling, even though it was bad to suspect people of being dishonest, that Uncle Saotome must have needed another son for some purpose. Then there was the water from the Spring of Drowned Monkey; that one, Kasumi had no idea why Uncle Saotome thought it’d be a good idea to have around. The bald martial artist claimed it was an honest mistake, but it didn’t change the end results.

Nabiki could now turn into a monkey. Akane was now part-boy. And Kasumi… Kasumi had gained a twin and tag-along.

Suffice to say, there had been a lot of screaming and growling and (justified) beatings dispensed last night in between crying fits and the apparitions of a giant demon head when Father felt particularly enraged.

By the time everyone had retired for the night and spirits had sufficiently calmed, Ranma Saotome had become Akane’s fiancé and Uncle Saotome and Father had drew ‘battle plans’ on how to get to a cure for the various Curses plaguing their offspring and Kasumi had taken on herself to share her room with her brand new twin sister.

She didn’t know why Father was so upset, honestly – well, Nabiki’s case asides; being a monkey didn’t seem pleasant. But Father certainly wouldn’t mind having and additional daughter – and him who had always wanted a son, he was getting his wish, sort of.

You should always be careful about what you wished for, Kasumi thought as she eyed her twin warily. The other Kasumi blinked back at her with the same expression. Kasumi had often thought a little help to take care of the house wouldn’t be amiss. She just hadn’t expected it to happen that way.

Or to have to argue about who was going to do what.

“But I want to make breakfast!” the twin exclaimed, sounding as upset as Kasumi felt.

Normally, she wouldn’t have minded – it was her copy, not Akane’s, if anything this new Kasumi would have her own cooking skills. But the thing was, Kasumi liked to cling to her routine and she really needed some alone time this morning, if only to finish swallowing the brutal changes in their life. Having someone else in the kitchen wasn’t unwelcome exactly but… it was slightly inconvenient. Of course, Kasumi thought, her new twin was probably thinking the same as well.

“I am sorry, sister,” Kasumi said, remaining firm, “but this is my task. Perhaps you can do something else?” she added to pacify her. “There is much to do in the house. The laundry, sweeping the floors, cleaning the windows,…”

Other Kasumi pouted. “I can do that, I guess, sister. Then perhaps I can go pick the groceries? We’ll have to pick plenty more, with two… three additional mouths to feed,” she corrected herself.

“Maybe we can go together?” Kasumi proposed. Extra arms certainly wouldn’t hurt. “Then you can cook lunch…” Since Kasumi herself was going to make breakfast, it was only normal she let her twin handle another meal, wasn't it?

“While you’ll do the gardening,” other Kasumi continued, nodding. Once again, it was only fair, since Other Kasumi would have done the cleaning. “But sister, it dawns on me... if we do work on everything together, we’ll be finished early with the chores. What shall we do with the rest of our day?”

Kasumi blinked; it hadn’t occurred to her that maybe, for once since farther she cared to remember, she could have free time. “Oh my,” she murmured, taking her chin in her hand. What to do indeed? There was always that book she borrowed from Doctor Tofu she wanted to finish, but Other Kasumi would probably want to read it too. Perhaps she could give a call or go visit some friends? It had been too long since she last saw any of them. “We… will discuss it later,” she finally eluded. There was no point in deciding now, and she wouldn't want to exclude Other Kasumi. Speaking of which... “We also need to find her a new name for you; we can’t both answer to Kasumi, can we?”

Other Kasumi blinked. “But why would I be the one to change name?”

Oh my; here came their first argument between sisters, Kasumi thought. Well, it was their second, really, but the breakfast question had been easy enough. This one, Kasumi felt, was going to be a tougher one to go through.

**Author's Note:**

> Kasumi's twin would eventually be named 'Kikuko', after Kasumi's original dubbing actress ;)


End file.
